The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to spend $59 million on 7,000 body cameras for police officers, one of the largest efforts in the nation to outfit officers with recorders.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who helped spearhead the camera program, called the council vote a “historic moment” for the department.

However, civil liberties groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, said the contract with Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Taser International marks a “big backwards step for public trust in law enforcement” because police don’t have to release footage from the cameras.

The planned rollout follows scrutiny of police killings of unarmed black men in places such as Ferguson, Mo., Baltimore and North Charleston, S.C. Advocates argue the devices ensure rogue cops are held accountable, and police groups say the cameras can exonerate officers wrongly accused of misconduct.

The Los Angeles Police Department already has about 1,000 cameras in use, and reviews its camera policy about twice a year. The LAPD’s Mission Division in the San Fernando Valley was one of the first areas in the city to get the cameras.

The camera footage isn’t accessible to the public, unless a court orders it released, for instance. Officers are also allowed to review footage before writing reports. And some interactions with the public, such as domestic violence interviews, aren’t recorded.

Matt Johnson, president of the Los Angeles Police Commission, cited statistics at a Tuesday public safety hearing that states officers in other cities who wear cameras have significantly fewer use-of-force complaints. The recorders help de-escalate violent situations, he said.

“I view this as an essential part of policing,” Johnson said.

However, Hector Villagra, executive director of the ACLU of Southern California, argues that officers can use the cameras to spy on the public. The group also wants more access to the footage.

“The city’s failure to engage on LAPD’s policy represents not only a tremendous waste of public resources, but a tragic lost opportunity for improving policing in Los Angeles,” Villagra said.

The new contract with Taser International includes $31 million for the cameras and $23 million for Sprint phones, which officers will use to upload video footage while out in the field. The remaining funds will be used on supporting infrastructure.

Full implementation of the cameras will occur by 2017-2018, later than the original 2016 rollout date set by Garcetti.